Animal House?

by Nika

Southerners love to visit and to receive visitors. It is a part of the grand tradition of “Southern Hospitality.” We believe hostesses should be ready to welcome anyone who knocks on their door at a moment’s notice.

Well, this week some unexpected callers have appeared at my old house. Maybe we should should start calling it “Animal House!” The first visitor is very welcome, the others – not so much.

This little charmer is our new house cat. He wandered in the open door of 815 17th Avenue like he owned the place. Apparently a stray, he has won all our hearts and a place in our family. His name is “General Lee.” Certainly, he is appropriately named for the “cat-in-charge” of an antebellum home.

Our other new visitors have been fluttering around in the third floor central hall, and causing quite a fuss. They are small dark brown bats. I can’t discover how they are getting into the house. There is no chimney in that area and the attic looks clear. Can anyone help me identify them? And, I get them out of the house? I know bats are a beneficial species and I don’t wish to harm them, just encourage them to move elsewhere. Any suggestions ya’ll have would be appreciated!

8 Comments to “Animal House?”

Ahhh…the bats…I think everyone in the neighborhood has had an experience or three with these wonderful, but scary (at least up close!) bug eaters.

The only way to get the bats out of the house is to locate where they are flying in and out of. The best way to do this is to watch the house at night, just at dusk. The bats were getting in our house through a small (less than 2 inches) crack between the fascia board and the side of the house. Then, search the web for a reputable company that will create a bat dam that will allow the bats to fly out, but not back in (we did this and successfully got an entire colony out of our wall (double yikes!!!). After about 2 weeks, all of the bats were out and we took down the dam and caulked the hole. We’ve never had a problem since.

Hah! We were actually graduate students who had just gotten married and purchased our house and way too poor to pay anyone! We got great advise though from a group out of the Atlanta area. This is basically what they told us to do:
Determine the location(s) from which the bats leave at night. Make a one-way device out of netting. Cover the bat opening(s) with plastic or lightweight, flexible netting with 1/6 inch (0.4 cm) mesh or smaller (we used plastic drop cloths). Secure it along the top and halfway down the sides. It should extend 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) below the bottom edge of the opening. Repeat for all openings. Keep the cover in place for a minimum of two weeks to ensure all bats have exited. Then permanently seal the openings.
This works because of the way that bats fly when they approach and leave their “home”. They cannot fly back under the bottom edge of the cover, but leaving the bottom edge open, allows the bats to fly out as they naturally do.
Any professional pest remover can offer assistance and advise, but some are not interested in dealing with bats b/c it is illegal in most areas to kill bats.
Best of luck!

I think Stacy is right. The only other consideration is to make sure there are no baby bats in the house before you put up the excluder. You do this by the calendar. I think after September or October it would be okay to proceed. Your “bat man” will know for sure.